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THE MAKING OF A NATION - August 22, 2002: Cold War
By Jeri Watson
VOICE 1:
This is Doug Johnson.
VOICE 2:
And this is Phil Murray with THE MAKING OF A NATION, a VOA Special English program about the history
of the United States.
(Theme)
Today, we tell about the period known as the cold war.
VOICE 1:
The cold war began after World War Two. The main enemies were the United States and the Soviet Union.
The cold war got its name because both sides were afraid of fighting each other directly. In such a "hot war,
"
nuclear weapons might destroy everything. So, instead, they fought each other indirectly. They supported
conflicts in different parts of the world. They also used words as weapons. They threatened and denounced each
other. Or they tried to Make each other look foolish.
VOICE 2:
Over the years, leaders on both sides changed. Yet the cold war continued. It was the
major force in world politics for most of the second half of the twentieth century.
Historians disagree about how long the cold war lasted. Some believe it ended when the
United States and the Soviet Union improved relations during the nineteen-sixties and
early nineteen-seventies. Others believe it ended when the Berlin Wall was torn down in
nineteen-eighty-nine.
VOICE 1:
The cold war world was separated into three groups. The United States led the West. This group included
countries with democratic political systems. The Soviet Union led the East. This group included countries with
communist political systems. The Non -Aligned group included countries that did not want to be tied to either the
West or the East.
VOICE 2:
Harry Truman was the first American president to fight the cold war. He used several policies. One was the
Truman Doctrine. This was a plan to give money and military aid to countries threatened by communism. The
Truman Doctrine effectively stopped communists from taking control of Greece and Turkey.
Another policy was the Marshall Plan. This strengthened the economies and governments of countries in western
Europe.
VOICE 1:
A major event in the cold war was the Berlin Airlift. In June nineteen-forty-eight, the Soviets blocked all ways
into the western part of Berlin, Germany. President Truman quickly ordered military planes to fly coal, food, and
medicine to the city.
The planes kept coming, sometimes landing every few minutes, for more than a year. The United States received
help from Britain and France. Together, they provided almost two and one-half million tons of supplies on about
two-hundred-eighty thousand flights.
VOICE 2:
The United States also led the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in nineteen -forty-nine. NATO
was a joint military group. Its purpose was to defend against Soviet forces in Europe. The first members of
NATO were Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal,
and the United States.
The Soviet Union and its east European allies formed their own joint military group -- the Warsaw Pact -- six
years later.
VOICE 1:
In nineteen -fifty-three, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin died. His death gave the new American president, Dwight
Eisenhower, a chance to deal with new Soviet leaders.
In July, nineteen-fifty-five, Eisenhower and Nikolai Bulganin met in Geneva, Switzerland. The leaders of Britain
and France also attended.
Eisenhower proposed that the Americans and Soviets agree to let their military bases be inspected by air by the
other side. The Soviets later rejected the proposal. Yet the meeting in Geneva was not considered a failure. After
all, the leaders of the world's most powerful nations had shaken hands.
VOICE 2:
Cold war tensions increased, then eased, then increased again over the years. The changes came as both sides
actively tried to influence political and economic developments around the world.
For example, the Soviet Union provided military, economic, and technical aid to communist governments in
Asia. The United States then helped eight Asian nations fight communism by establishing the Southeast Asia
Treaty Organization.
In the middle nineteen -fifties, the United States began sending military advisers to help south Vietnam defend
itself against communist North Vietnam. That aid would later expand into a long and bloody period of American
involvement in Vietnam.
VOICE 1:
The cold war also affected the Middle East. In the nineteen-fifties, both East and West offered aid to Egypt to
build the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River. The west cancelled its offer, however, after Egypt bought weapons
from the communist government of Czechoslovakia.
Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser then seized control of the company that operated the Suez Canal. A few
months later, Israel invaded Egypt. France and Britain joined the invasion.
VOICE 2:
For once, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed on a major issue. Both supported a United Nations
resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire.
The Suez crisis was a political victory for the Soviets. When the Soviet Union supported Egypt, it gained new
friends in the Arab world.
VOICE 1:
In nineteen -fifty-nine, cold war tensions eased a little. The new Soviet leader, Nikita Khruschchev, visited
Dwight Eisenhower at his holiday home near Washington. The meeting was very friendly. But the next year,
relations got worse again.
An American military plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. Eisenhower admitted that such planes had
been spying on the Soviets for four years. In a speech at the United Nations, Khruschchev got so angry that he
took off his shoe and beat it on a table.
VOICE 2:
John Kennedy followed Eisenhower as president in nineteen-sixty-one. During his early days in office, Cuban
exiles invaded Cuba. They wanted to oust the communist government of Fidel Castro. The exiles had been
trained by America's Central Intelligence Agency. The United States failed to send military planes to protect
them during the invasion. As a result, almost all were killed or taken prisoner.
In Europe, tens of thousands of East Germans had fled to the West. East Germany's communist government
decided to stop them. It built a wall separating the eastern and western parts of the city of Berlin. Guards shot at
anyone who tried to flee by climbing over.
VOICE 1:
During Kennedy's second year in office, American intelligence reports discovered Soviet missiles in Cuba. The
Soviet Union denied they were there. American photographs proved they were.
The Cuban missile crisis easily could have resulted in a nuclear war. But it ended after a week. Khruschchev
agreed to remove the missiles if the United States agreed not to interfere in Cuba.
VOICE 2:
Some progress was made in easing cold war tensions when Kennedy was president. In nineteen-sixty-three, the
two sides reached a major arms control agreement. They agreed to ban tests of nuclear weapons above ground,
under water, and in space. They also established a direct telephone line between the White House and the
Kremlin.
Relations between East and West also improved when Richard Nixon was president. He and Leonid Brezhnev
met several times. They reached several arms control agreements. One reduced the number of missiles used to
shoot down enemy nuclear weapons. It also banned the testing and deployment of long -distance missiles for five
years.
VOICE 1:
A major change in the cold war took place in nineteen-eighty-five. That is when Mikhail Gorbachev became
leader of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev held four meetings with President Ronald Reagan. He withdrew Soviet
forces from Afghanistan. And he signed an agreement with the United States to destroy all middle -distance and
short -distance nuclear missiles.
VOICE 2:
By nineteen-eighty-nine, there was widespread unrest in eastern Europe. Gorbachev did not intervene as these
countries cut their ties with the Soviet Union.
The Berlin Wall, the major symbol of communist oppression, was torn down in November. In less than a year,
East and West Germany became one nation again. A few months after that, the Warsaw Pact was dissolved. The
cold war was over.
(Theme)
VOICE 1:
This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jeri Watson and produced by Paul Thompson.
This is Doug Johnson.
VOICE 2:
And this is Phil Murray. Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of
the United States.
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